The invention relates to the provision of a telephone conferencing (also referred to as an audio conferencing) system. More particularly, the invention provides for transcription and, if desired, text and audio translation of the speech of participants to a teleconference hosted by the disclosed telephone conferencing system.
A telephone or audio conference (hereinafter xe2x80x9cteleconferencexe2x80x9d) enables multiple teleconference participants to hear and be heard by all other participants to the teleconference. In some telephone conferencing systems a conference is pre-arranged for a specific time and a specified number of users or participants. According to this arrangement, a specific telephone number or telephone extension and the necessary facilities (i.e., the necessary audio bridge ports) are reserved for the teleconference. In other telephone conferencing systems, such as those provided for by a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) or through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), the teleconference is implemented xe2x80x9con-the-flyxe2x80x9d. That is, an initiating user, who may also be a participant, connects to a second participant. This second participant is then placed on hold, and the initiating user calls and connects to a third participant. The initiating user, through the use of a specific key or key sequence, allows the second participant to re-join and the conference can then commence. The process of having the initiating participant put the other conference participants on hold while adding additional participants can then be repeated.
While the popularity of teleconferencing has increased, its popularity and world-wide acceptance has revealed many problems. Foremost amongst these problems are the difficulties encountered with participants speaking different languages. With different languages being spoken, or non-native languages being spoken by multi-lingual participants, difficulties are encountered not only with simply communicating but numerous difficulties are encountered due to subtleties in language and persons misconstruing the meanings of complex words or phrases. Moreover, upon completion of the teleconference no written record of the conference is available.
To address this problem, real-time translation has been implemented using human translators. An example of this model is used during discourse at the United Nations. For each language spoken there is a separate audio feed staffed by a human interpreter. The interpreter assigned to a specific audio feed, listens, translates and rephrases what has been spoken into a specific language which is then transmitted to users wishing to listen. As can well be imagined, the number of translators necessary to translate from all possible languages into all possible languages is extremely expensive. Moreover, written transcripts are typically generated from tapes at a much later time and through considerable human effort.
Many teleconferencing systems are known and have been disclosed in the art. For example, Bruno, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,591 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Recording and Indexing an Audio and Multimedia Conferencexe2x80x9d issued Jan. 20, 1998, discloses a method and apparatus for recording and indexing audio information exchanged during an audio conference call, or video, audio and data information exchanged during a multimedia conference. For an audio conference, Bruno discloses a computer connected to an audio bridge for recording the audio information along with an identification signal for correlating each conference participant with that participant""s statements. The computer connected to the audio bridge provides recording and indexing of received audio signals and may provide transcription services.
These systems for providing written records of teleconferences and translation of those conferences are not economically feasible for widespread adoption.
The systems in the art do not suggest a cost-effective system for providing real-time textual representations in a participant""s native language nor for providing translation text or audio.
A teleconferencing system is disclosed allowing voice and data communication between the teleconference bridge server and participants. The teleconferencing system enables the speech of each participant to the teleconference to be transcribed, using speech to text recognition software, and translated into a participant""s desired language prior to merger of a participant""s input with that of other participants. The transcribed and translated text is then displayed on a display terminal of participants to the teleconference. Additionally, the teleconferencing system enables audio translation facilities by using text to speech synthesizing software to generate an audio signal corresponding to the transcribed and translated generated text.
The translation and transcription facilities may be distributed between a participant""s computer and the facilities of the teleconference bridge server using a client-server style architecture. Alternatively, and perhaps simultaneously, the translation and transcription facilities may be provided centrally by the teleconference server allowing the transcription and translation services to be accessed by participants using display terminals which do not have the capacity to perform speech to text conversions.
In one aspect of the present invention there is provided a teleconferencing system comprising: a network interface communicating with a data network; an audio interface for communication with a voice network; a processor in communication with the network interface, the audio interface, the processor adapted to: receive voice data from the voice network transmitted from a first station; receive data from the first station over the data network, the data corresponding to a textual representation of the received voice data, the textual representation being in a first language; translate the received data corresponding to text in a first language into translated data corresponding to text in a second language; transmit the received voice data over the voice network to a second station; and transmit the translated data over the data network to the second station.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a system providing transcripts of an audio teleconference, the system comprising: a teleconference bridge server in communication with a voice network and a data network; a first station in communication with the voice network and the data network, the second station comprising: a telephone appliance in communication with the voice network; and a computer in communication with the telephone appliance and the data network; a second station in communication with the voice network and the data network, the first station comprising: a telephone appliance in communication with the voice network; and a computer in communication with the telephone appliance and the data network; the telephone appliance of the first station adapted to transmit audio data to the computer and to transmit the audio data to the teleconference bridge server over the voice network; the computer of the first station adapted to: receive the audio data via the telephone appliance; transcribe the audio data into textual data; transmit the textual data to the teleconference bridge server over the data network; receive textual data over the data network from the teleconference bridge server; display the received textual data on a display device; the teleconference bridge server adapted to: receive audio data from the voice network from the first station; transmit audio data over the voice network to the second station; receive the textual data transmitted from the first station over the data network; and transmit the received textual data to the second station over the data network.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a teleconference bridge server comprising: a first input/output port in communication with a data network; a second input/output port in communication with a voice network; a central processing unit in communication with the first and second input/output ports, the central processing unit adapted to: receive audio data from a first station on the voice network through the second input/output port; transcribe the received audio data into textual data; transmit the received audio data over the voice network through the second input/output port to a second station; transmit the textual data over the data network through the first input/output port to the second station.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a client station to a teleconference bridge server, the client station comprising: a telephone appliance for connecting with a voice network; a computer in communication with the telephone appliance, the computer comprising: a first input/output port for connecting with a data network; a second input/output port in communication with the telephone appliance; a display; a memory; a central processing unit in communication with the first and second input/output ports, the display and the memory, the central processing unit adapted to: receive audio data from the telephone appliance through the second input/output port; transcribe the received audio data into text data; transmit the text data to the teleconference bridge server through the first input/output port and over the data network; receive text data from the teleconference bridge server through the first input/output port and over the data network; and display the text data on the display; the telephone appliance for transmitting the voice to both the voice network and the computer.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of providing teleconferencing services by a teleconference server, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of participants: receiving a call over a voice network from a participant; determining the participant""s facilities; determining the services required by the participant; if the participant""s facilities comprise a computing device, establishing a data connection with the computer over a data network; receiving a voice audio signal from the participant; transmitting the voice audio signal from the participant to other participants over the voice network; and transmitting text corresponding to the voice audio signal over the data network to the other participants.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer readable media comprising computer readable computer code to adapt a general purpose computer to: for each of a plurality of participants: receive a call over a voice network from a participant; determine the participant""s facilities; determine the services required by the participant; if the participant""s facilities comprise a computing device, establish a data connection with the computer over a data network; receive a voice audio signal from the participant; transmit the voice audio signal from the participant to other participants over the voice network; and transmit text corresponding to the voice audio signal over the data network to the plurality of participants.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for enabling teleconferencing, comprising: receiving voice input from a first participant in a teleconference; converting the voice input of the first participant to text; translating the text from a first language to a second language; transmitting to a second participant the voice input of the first participant and a signal based on the translated text.
In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer readable media comprising computer readable computer code to adapt a general purpose computer to: receive voice input from a first participant in a teleconference; convert the voice input of the first participant to text; translate the text from a first language to a second language; transmit to a second participant the voice input of the first participant and a signal based on the translated text.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.